The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 103, Ed. 1 Sunday, March 1, 1998 Page: 1 of 57
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Baytown Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sterling Municipal Library.
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tJd§&lWeekend I What’s Inside
Fed up
Americans tired of
political squabbling
Calendar....
,.. 2-A
Wanda Orton..
...4-A
Classifieds......
....6B
Police Beat....
...3-A
Obituaries ....
...3A
Sports........
...1-B
Opinion......
... 4-A
Today in History.. 4-A
Wanda Orton
Sam Houston's
Washington fracas
Che PartoUm
Eagles ousted
Laty Eagles
fall to Hudson
Volume 76, No. 103
Telephone Number: (281) 422-8302
Sunday, March 1,1998
Baytown, Texas 77520
$1.00 Per Copy
Holiday season was a jolly one for Baytown retailers
Inside today’s
edition:
98
■ nside today’s edition,
■ you’ll find the third
■ installment of‘Tore-
cast ’98, the Progress Edi-
tion of The Baytown Sun.”
Today’s section focuses
on health and the legacy of
service and care for the
area provided by the men
and women of medicine.
ByJEORGEZARAZUA
The Baytown Sun
The $919,788.83 sales tax rebate
check Baytown received last month
from the state comptroller’s office
was a slight increase — about 7.3
percent — from last year’s Febru-
ary total.
February’s payment includes tax-
es collected during the height of the
pared to the same month last year.
Houston’s rebate of about $37
million was an 11.72 percent in-
holiday shopping season in Decem-
ana reported tc
ber ana reported to State Comptrol-
ler John Sharp’s Austin office in
January.
It also included quarterly returns
for sales in October, November and
December, and all yearly filings for
1997.
Baytown was among several area
cities that also received higher sales
tax rebates in February 1998 com-
Anahuac’s rebate increased 20.96
percent from $7,906.71 in 1997 to
$9,564.10 in 1998.
Liberty received a $177,138.05
rebate for the month, reaping in
6.83 percent more than it did in
February 1997.
However, not all area cities were
enjoying a busier holiday season in
1997, according to the figures pro-
vided by the state comptroller’s
sales tax rebates. ,
Dayton, Mont Belvieu and Old
River Winfree all received smaller
checks from the comptroller’s of-
fice.
Dayton’s rebate was $57,002.06,
a 14.12 percent decrease over last
February 1998 city sales tax rebates
1998
City
February
1998
February
1997
Percent
change
revenue
to date
Anahuac
$9,564.10
$7,906.71
20.96%
$14,294.40
Baytown
$919,778.83
$857,516.45
7.26%
$1,310,628.93
Dayton
$57,002.60
$66,379.14
-14.12%
$94,191.26
Deer Park
$181,520.52
$159,185.76
14.03%
$289,146.95
Houston
♦ $36,993,407.23
$33,109,645.92
11.72%
$55,781,955.51
Humble
$1,141,181.07
$1,020,057.70
11.87%
$1,617,817.59
Liberty
$177,138.05
$165,811.59
6.83%
$305,203.62
La Porte
$166,408.96
$152,409.04
9.18%
$248,638.64
Mont Belvieu
$85,030.76
$96,092.30
-11.51%
$146,844.74
Old Rlver-Wlnfree
$1,867.30
$2,194.51
-14.91%
$2,542.22
Pasadena
$1,403,443.05
$1,255,789.35
11.75%
$2,10$,526.18
All Texas cities
$267,126,393.63
$239,568,188.57
11.50%
$409,608,985.95
1997
revenue Percent
to date change
$11,591.22
$1,212,272.17
$100,142.28
$243,794.71
$49,548,400.57
$1,444,234.16
$274,988.12
$233,713.89
$175,309.45
V $3,094.45
$1,881,562.07
$366,188,537.89
23.32%
8.02%
-5.94%
18.60%
12.58%
12.01%
10.98%
6.38% e
■16.23%
-17.83%
11.90%
11.85%
year. » Old River Winfree which has Its rebates totaled $1,867.30,
Mont Belvieu fared no better, re- seen its sales tax rebate diminish 14.91 percent less than the
ceiving 11.51 percent less than it through the months, received even $2,194.51 it received in February
did a year ago. less last month. 1997.
Crosby
school
trustee
resigns
tyJEDRGE ZAMBIA
The Baytown Sun
Loyce Shmidl, a 14-year member of the
Crosby Independent School District school
board, announced recently she is retiring from
her trustee position, effective May 2.
Shmidl, a former Baytonian, submitted her
letter of resignation frpm her single-member
District 5 position during a recent Crosby
trustees’ meeting.- ■
“Crosby has been a great district to serve and
I wish my replacement the best of luck,”
Shmidl said in her letter addressed to Earl
Boykin, the school board’s president.
Crosby ISD Superintendent Don Hendrix
said Shmidl, a well-known artist in the commu-
nity, was planning on spending more time with
her family, especially her grandchildren.
Shmidl had one more year left in her term.
Hendrix said Shmidl was very considerate in
announcing her retirement earlier this month,
because it gave the school district enough, time
to place her position on the May 2 ballot for the
school board elections.
Shmidl, a graduate of Robert E. Lee High
School, first joined the Crosby ISD school
board in the early 1980s and served for about
three years.
She rejoined the board in in 1989.
Carnage on Highway 146
Four people were hurt in this three-car pileup in the 7700 block of Highway 146 on Friday at noon. Baytown rescue workers
pulled two of the victims from the wreckage and loaded them for transport by LifeFlight helicopter to Hermann Hospital’s trau-
ma center. . One was in critical condition and the other in serious, according to the Baytown Fire Department. Two others in-
volved in the accident were treated and released at the scene.
Baytown
native
named
marshal
Assistant Houston Police Chief
Art Contreras, a Baytown native,
has been appointed the new US.
marshal for the Southern District
of Texas.
Contreras, 58, will oversee fed-
eral law enforcement from Hous-
ton to Brownsville.
Contreras is believed to be the
first Hispanic lawman to hold the
federal post. .
The 35-year Houston Police De-
partment veteran’s appointment
was approved this week by the U.S.
Senate.
Harris County commissioners seek pay hike for themselves
ByJEORGEZARAZUA
The Baytown Sun
When the new fiscal year begins for
Harris County next September, some
county employees will see raises in their
paychecks — but none as large as the one
that county commissioners are proposing
for themselves and other county officials.
The Harris County Commissioners
Court agreed recently, to give themselves
a 24 percent pay raise — the largest
among the judges and other county offi-
cials.
For the past two years, county employ-
ees have only been receiving a 2 percent
pay raise and will have to wait until Sept.
16 to find out how much of an increase
they’ll get this year.
Commissioner Jim Fonteno, who repre-
sents the Baytown area, defended the
SL15,995-a-year salary, saying he and his
fellow commissioners have done a lot for
Harris County within the budget restraints
that have been imposed on them.
“I think that the pay raise is necessary,”
Fonteno said this week.
He continued by saying he, personally,
has accomplished a number of things for
Precinct 2, which he represents.
He cited the new senior citizens pro-
gram and the community center.
“I think the county’s money has been
pretty well handled,” he said.
Commissioners are expected to vote on
the county’s budget on Tuesday.
Exxon’s Ron Embry named to new position
By BRIAN BROCK
The Baytown Sun
For 15 years, Ron Embry has
been the public fece of the Exxon
Refinery, but
his lorig Bay-
town tenure
comes to a
close this week.
Embry,
Exxon’s public
relations coor-
dinator, was re-
cently trans- _
ferredtoExxon RonEmbry
Pipeline Co. ofHouston.
Embry, a chemical engineer, ar-
rived in Baytown in 1965 and soon
■is
became involved in the communi-
ty.
“I grew up in a family that did
not have any economic resources,
but had the ethic that one should
give to the community,” said Em-
bry, “I grew up with the idea that
being of service to the community
is one of our civic responsibilities.”
Embry spent five years on the
Baytown City Council and became
active in the school district
A firm believer in the value of
education, Embry became active in
PTA.and was a supporter of high
school sports and also tutored at
Travis Elementary.
That dedication paid off with son
Ron Jr. “Ronnie” becoming vale-
dictorian at Sterling and graduating
from Rice with honors.
“Hopefully, some of the young-
sters you come into contact with
aig better because you came into
contact with them.” said Embry.
Embry came to Baytown from
Arkansas with his first wife Lynn,
who spent her career as a nurse in
lbcal hospitals. Baytown welcomed
the young couple with open arms,
Embry said.
“I developed acquaintances in
the business community, and my
wife made many friends in the
non-Exxon professional communi-
ty,” Embry said.
A month into their marriage,
Lynn was diagnosed with cancer
and given only two years to live.
With a spirit that Embry consid-
ers emblematic of their lives, Lynn,
“vowed that if positive attitude had
anything to do with it, she would
survive to see her son graduate
from high school.” She lived to see
Ronnie graduate from college, but
succumbed to cancer in 1992.
Embry later remarried within the
Exxon family, wedding Mary
“Mel” Gallagher three years ago.
In 1983, Exxon tapped Embry as
refinery spokesman.
Over the next 15 years, Embry
became synonymous with Exxon,
addressing questions and concerns
about the refinery with an unflap-
pable poise and a dedication to
serving both his employer and the
community.
“You can’t always be accurate,
but you can always be unfailingly
honest, and that was my goal,” said
Embry, “it would be nice to be om-
niscient and articulate, but a close
second is a real human who tries
very hard every day to be honest.”
At Exxon Pipeline, Embry will
be working with the national media
and Exxon qreration neighbors na-
tionwide, including Alaska.
“When the scope becomes na-
tionwide, you don’t have that sense
of familiarity,” Embry said, “but
hopefully the same set of values
will eventually come through no
matter who I’m dealing with.”
Saturday: Mostly cloudy, with
highs in the mid-60s.
Sunday: Clearing and cool-
er, with highs near 60.
Art by Kathy Havenar
News tip? Call (281) 422-8302
www.baytownsun.com
For home delivery, call {26
• ^
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 103, Ed. 1 Sunday, March 1, 1998, newspaper, March 1, 1998; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1023442/m1/1/?q=library+literature+and+Information+Science: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.